Crystal Palace believe they have a very strong case when they appeal against UEFA's decision to demote them from the Europa League at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday.
Palace chairman Steve Parish arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday and is confident of victory.
UEFA demoted Palace from the Europa League to the Conference League after they were deemed to have breached multi-club ownership rules due to John Textor holding shares in both the Eagles and Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League.
Textor has since sold his Palace shares to fellow US businessman Woody Johnson. However, their place in the Europa League was given to Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest, who were previously set for the Conference League.
Palace see the hearing in Switzerland as their only shot at overturning what they believe is an unfair decision.
Parish and Palace spent the early part of the summer working closely with UEFA in order to keep their Europa League place, but their lawyers are expected to take a much more robust approach in the day-long hearing in Lausanne.
They will argue Palace have been singled out for unfair treatment and that UEFA treats clubs differently - depending on their wealth and influence - when it comes to applying its rules.
The CAS appeal will be heard on Friday, with a decision expected on Monday - a day after FA Cup holders Palace face Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley.
Parish and a team of executives and senior lawyers will present Palace's case at the hearing.
Parish described UEFA's decision to demote Palace to the Conference League as "one of the greatest injustices in the history of European football".
Palace want their place back and believe it should happen at the expense of either Forest or Lyon, who will play in the Europa League after winning an appeal against their relegation from Ligue 1 that was imposed due to financial difficulties.
Palace missed the March 1 deadline to change their ownership structure to comply with the rules. However, the Eagles have legal documents, seen by Sky Sports News, which advise clubs that the real deadline is not March 1, but April 30.
What are Palace expected to argue?
In the hearing on Friday, Palace will argue:
- UEFA has different rules for different clubs. Last season. Manchester City and Girona, who are both part of the City Football Group, played in the Champions League. Manchester United and Nice, whose are run by investors and owners INEOS, played in the Europa League. In 2018, Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig were in the same Europa League group and played each other home and away.
- They have never been run as part of a multi-club operation. Eagle Football had shares in Palace but the club is run by Parish. Textor became so frustrated with his lack of influence, he sold his stake to US businessman Woody Johnson last month.
- Textor missed the March 1 deadline to place his Palace shares in a blind trust to get around UEFA's rules because he was actively trying to sell his stake and could not afford to lose control of the process.
- The European Clubs Association, which has close links to UEFA, advised its 700 members that the March 1 deadline was not in stone and clubs had until May 31 to comply with the rules. Nottingham Forest received this advice but Palace did not because they are not members of the ECA.
- Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis placed his shares in a blind trust when it appeared that Forest and his Greek club Olympiakos may both qualify for the Champions League. Records at Companies House show this was done on April 30, almost two months after the March 1 deadline.
- Palace have legal documents that show that the real deadline to comply with the rules was April 30 and not March 1.
- UEFA sent updates about its multi-club ownership rules to info@cpfc.co.uk instead of senior club executives. Emails to Lyon were sent to the right email address.
Glasner 'confident' Eagles will win appeal
This new evidence has raised Palace's hopes of a successful appeal and speaking earlier this week, Glasner was upbeat about their chances of playing in the Europa League.
He told Sky Sports News: "We don’t have any influence on the decision from UEFA, we don’t have any influence on the decision from CAS, so it just makes no sense that we're thinking about it.
"We focus on what we have to do on the pitch, how to create this spirit in the group, this togetherness, this commitment, and this is what we are doing day by day.
"We’re waiting for the final decision, we’re still confident that the appeal will be successful and that we will play in the Europa League.
"But in the end, on August 11, we will know the final decision - then we will start to prepare for Europe."
Playing in the third-tier Conference League instead of the second-tier Europa League could cost Palace as much as £20m in lost revenue.
If they did lose the appeal, it would make it more difficult to hold onto players such as Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Jean-Philippe Mateta.
They would also have to play Fredrikstad or Midtjylland in a two-legged Conference League play-off later this month.
Last month, Palace chairman Steve Parish said the club's demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League was "one of the greatest injustices" in the history of European football.
Parish strongly rejected the idea Palace and Lyon were part of a multi-club ownership group and said it was a "crazy rule" Palace had been judged to have fallen foul of.
"Obviously, we're devastated," he told Sky Sports News in an exclusive interview. "We're devastated for, most importantly, the supporters. I think the supporters of all clubs should be devastated for us because this is the dream.
"You win a cup, actually win something for the first time in your history. Somebody said to me it's like winning the lottery, going to the counter and you don't get the prize.
"I'm devastated for the players, for the fans, for the staff. It's a bad day for football.
"I think most right-minded football fans will see what a terrible injustice this is for the football club, one that I dearly hope somebody can remedy because I do believe that nobody in football wants to see this.
"I don't think UEFA want to see this. Clubs that rightfully qualify for a competition being locked out of that competition on the most ridiculous technicality that you could imagine.
"Obviously, as everybody knows, John or anybody at Eagle Football [Textor's company] didn't have decisive influence over Crystal Palace. Everybody knows this. Everybody knows we're not part of a multi-club [ownership]. Everybody knows we have no staff, no players from Lyon, no loans, no transactions.
"We've caught a tripwire. We're caught up in a rule that wasn't put there for us.
"It will change. Nobody's going to stick with this rule. It's a crazy rule. I don't understand why the panel have come to the conclusion they've come to.
"We've proved to them beyond all reasonable doubt that John didn't have decisive influence over anything to do with the football club, yet still they've come up with this decision, which seems incongruous."
From this season, Sky Sports' Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season are on Sky Sports.
